In late 2001, several United States postal offices and other buildings were contaminated with Bacillus anthracis spores (anthrax) along the Eastern United States, resulting in anthrax infection and death among several individuals. This incident was quite costly, not only in terms of the health-related impact, but also in the required decontamination efforts. Cleanup following the anthrax contamination proved to be difficult, labor intensive, and expensive. As this threat still exists, there exists a need to contain biological contaminants within the postal packages or other containers when the postal packages are delivered to a building suspected to be a target of contamination.
It is advantageous and desirable to provide a method and system for sealing the container in a safe and cost effective way so that the sealed container can be tested for contaminants.